Duty
by Rikki Aiken
Summary: Set during HBP.  Draco's fear is taking him over, and he turns to a fellow Slytherin for help.  DMPP.


Duty by Rikki Aiken 

A/N: I'm basically at a dead end with Another World and Metamorphosis, but I'm doing the best I can. Until then, here's a one-shot I wrote to get my mind off of things. Enjoy!

Draco crept noiselessly down the stairs of his dormitory to the Slytherin Common Room. He tried to get all of his aggression out on his possessions and on his roommates, but he didn't exactly want Crabbe's fist shoved down his throat. Draco had lately been under a lot of stress, predominantly from his father and his fellow Slytherins. His Lord had given him a great task to accomplish, something that many before him have failed to do.

Draco Malfoy was to kill Albus Dumbledore.

Dumbledore was the greatest wizard to ever wave a wand (next to the Dark Lord, of course), and had even defeated a Dark Lord in his past. For some reason, this seemingly impossible task was delegated to Draco, and boy, did he feel the heat.

Draco knew that if he failed, his family would be killed. The only option he had was to succeed in the impossible mission of killing the greatest Light sorcerer to ever walk the earth.

He shook his head in a feeble attempt at clearing his mind, and reached the Common Room, which was mercifully empty. He settled himself down one a leather couch and twiddled his wand between his fingers. He was freezing, but didn't have the energy to light a fire. He was just about to doze off when he suddenly heard a voice from behind him.

"You should be asleep, young man." Draco turned around to see Pansy Parkinson, the Ice Princess herself.

"Piss off, Parkinson. I can't sleep." What started out as an insult became a pleading tone. Pansy settled herself on the couch next to Draco.

"Stress, I suppose?"

"You don't know the half of it." Draco layed his head down into his hands.

"Well, help me learn. Draco, I want to help you," pleaded Pansy.

"You can't help me! Don't you see? I have to do this! If I don't, I'll die for sure, along with my parents. Or maybe worse, we'll just be publicly destroyed or thrown into Azkaban. Pans, the Dark Lord doesn't care that I'm still in school or can barely do a Patronus. He believes that I can accomplish this task, and I will. I have to." Draco layed his head in Pansy's lap. "How am I going to do this?"

"Draco, I don't know, but staying up all night isn't going to help. At least go and get a potion from Professor Snape, he knows what's going on. I can't stand to see you this way... so hopeless... so vulnerable..." Pansy was cut off.

"I don't want your pity!" Draco was half-heartedly glaring at Pansy. Maybe pity was exactly what he needed right now.

"I'm not offering it," replied Pansy softly. "I just want you to be happy and safe. However, the current circumstances aren't really providing an environment for that. So the only thing I can do for you is listen. Sometimes a pair of ears can be better than any potion or spell."

Draco scoffed.

"Where did you get that, out of one of Lockhart's books?"

"Shut up, I made it up myself!" But Pansy's retaliation was insincere, as she saw that Draco was smiling for the first time in days. "I'm sure it's better than anything you could come up with!"

Draco's eyes suddenly darkened.

"You're right. I can't do anything right, especially kill anyone. Why did he choose me for this?"

"Drake, I don't know. None of us can begin to understand how the Dark Lord thinks. All we can do is follow his orders and remain faithful. You should consider yourself lucky."

"Lucky? In what respects?" Draco jumped off of the couch and was glaring down at Pansy. The glare was no longer half-hearted.

"You have no idea what the Dark Lord makes some of his servants do! Would you like to go kidnap children and bring them back to be tortured, or have to rape children yourself, or be sold like a piece of property to the highest, dirty, perverted bidder?" Clearly, Pansy had said too much. Even her expertly conditioned Slytherin mask couldn't hide her shock at her own words. Her eyes widened and her eyebrows raised.

"Pansy... he did that to you?" Draco sat back down on the couch and grabbed Pansy's hand.

"No! I made that up! I swear, sometimes you can be as foolish as a..."

What Draco was as foolish as, he didn't hear.

At that moment, he grabbed Pansy and kissed her.

The kiss was soft, unlike Pansy had expected it, and full of despair and pity. Draco did not hold her, other than her hand, but Pansy could feel his warmth wrapping around her. Just as Pansy recovered from the shock, Draco pulled away.

"...I'm sorry, I just... I'll go back to bed, you don't... I just wanted to..." But Pansy cut off Draco's stammerings with a hug.

"Thank you. I've been waiting for you to do that for ages." Draco smiled at Pansy, and she smiled back. She had just felt the victory of successfully changing the subject when...

"I hope you don't think you're off the hook." Pansy inwardly groaned. Of course, Draco hadn't forgotten about his question. "Pans, you can trust me. I would never betray you, not even to the Dark Lord." Pansy sighed, nodded, and began her story.

"My father went to one of the Death Eater meetings, as usual, but came back within ten minutes. He grabbed me and apparated me away to the Dark Lord's lair. Millicent was there, and Daphne too, along with a few Ravenclaws and other girls that must have been from Durmstrang or Beauxbatons. The Dark Lord... he... told us that we would... for the Death Eaters, for morale... that we would..." Pansy's voice faltered. Draco held her close to him. "Go on, it's okay." Pansy took a deep breath and continued.

"...We would have to sell ourselves to a Death Eater. Not for marriage, either, just for..." Pansy trailed off again. She looked into Draco's eyes, silently begging him to let her stop. She saw horror and rage reflected back at her.

"That's monstrous! He expects you to do that, just at a whim? The man is crazy, I tell you, he's a straight..." Pansy covered his mouth with her hand.

"Do you want to wake up all of Slytherin?" Draco let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding, and Pansy removed her hand.

"I know how horrible it is, but what can I do? I don't want to die."

"Pansy, there has to be something we can do. I don't know, we can... we can run away, that's what we'll do..." Pansy giggled at the crazed look in Draco's eyes.

"Run away? To where? They'll track us down and torture us even more."

"We won't use magic. Muggles can do it, why can't we?" Draco was so excited that Pansy dreaded telling him anything.

"I can't wake up in the morning without magic, and I know you're the same." Draco's face fell and the hopelessness had returned. "The only thing we can do is our duty and hope everything works out in the end. And if it doesn't..." Pansy found herself unable to speak.

"Don't worry, Pans." Draco kissed her gently on the forehead. "It will... it will."

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